This invention relates generally to computer systems, and more particularly to a method and system for organizing notes on a limited resource computing device.
Small, mobile computing devices such as personal desktop assistants including hand-held and palm-type computers and the like are becoming increasingly popular for use by business people and others who must travel, and thus cannot readily access information stored on their desktop computer or office network workstation. Although laptop computers are capable of running virtually all of the application programs that execute on desktop machines, laptop computers are often either too large and/or too heavy to carry around. There is thus an increased demand for substantially smaller palm-type computers that are able to run business applications of less complexity than those designed to run on a desktop computer and enable a user to quickly access all types of personal and business related data, such as addresses, telephone numbers, scheduled appointment times, etc.
One such palm-type computer is Microsoft""s Palm-size PC. A Palm-size PC includes a touch screen display. The user may input data by touching a stylus to a user interface that is displayed on the touch screen display. A Palm-size PC user interface touch screen display is similar in appearance to a Windows user interface displayed on a desktop or laptop PC. A taskbar, used for invoking application programs, is displayed at the bottom of the touch screen display of the Palm-size PC. The user interface displayed on the touch screen display also includes a virtual keyboard for entering data.
One of the main reasons that a user will use a palm-type computer is to create and store notes when he or she is away from his or her desktop computer. Notes can be created on the Palm-size PC using various methods, including: typing a note using a virtual keyboard; handwriting a note using a stylus; and recording a note using a built-in recorder. Because notes can become voluminous, a method for organizing such notes in a logical manner is desirable. The present invention is directed to logically organizing notes on a limited resource computing device, such as a palm-type computer.
The present invention is directed to a method, and system for organizing notes on a limited resource computing device, such as Microsoft""s Palm-size PC, according to projects. A user interface is provided for creating a note. In response to a user requesting saving the note, the note is stored. If an active project exists when the note is stored, the note is associated with the active project.
In accordance with other aspects of the present invention, the user can create a project.
In accordance with further aspects of the present invention, the user can designate a project as an active project. A new note is associated with an active project, if an active project exists, when the note is saved.
In accordance with yet further aspects of the present invention, a note name is determined when a note is saved. The note name may be specified by the user or determined based on text found in the note. When based on text found in the note, the text of the note is analyzed (e.g., speech recognition or handwriting recognition is applied to the text) and the note name is determined based on the first line of valid text found in the note.
In accordance with still other aspects of the present invention, the note name may be a default note name. A default note name is a sequential note name based on the active project (e.g., PROJX1, PROJX2, etc.). If there is no active project, the default note name is a sequential file name based on the type of note (e.g., VOICE1, VOICE2, etc.).
In accordance with yet other aspects of the present invention, a notes index window is provided to display summary information for all notes, or for notes associated with a specific project. Preferably, the summary information contains fields for the note name, associated project, note type, memory location, note size, and note time. The notes can be displayed in ascending or descending order based on any field of the summary information.
In accordance with still further aspects of the present invention, a templates project is provided. The templates project is accessible from any other project. The templates project allows a user to create a note from an existing template.